From 2000–2002, Foudy served as president of the Women's Sports Foundation. In 2006, she co-founded the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, an organization focused on developing leadership skills in teenage girls. In 2007, she was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame with her teammate, Mia Hamm. She is currently an analyst, reporter and the primary color commentator for women's soccer telecasts on ESPN.

Foudy was a four-time NSCAA All-American at Stanford University and finished her collegiate career with 52 goals, 32 assists and 136 points. She was named the 1991 Soccer America Player of the Year and the 1989 Soccer America Freshman of the Year as was a two-time finalist for the Hermann Trophy in 1991 and 1992. She helped lead the Cardinal to NCAA tournament playoff berths all four years and was the team's MVP for three consecutive years from 1989–1991. She was the recipient of the Stanford Outstanding Freshman, Sophomore and Junior Athlete Award and was named to Soccer America's College Team of the Decade for the 1990s.[5]

Foudy held the captain's position for her WUSA team, the San Diego Spirit. When the WUSA suspended operations in September 2003, Foudy was the official player's representative to the ongoing efforts to resurrect the league.

Foudy played in four FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments, winning two FIFA Women's World Cups—in 1991 and 1999. She played in three Summer Olympic Games, winning an Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, Silver in 2000, and Gold again in 2004. Following the 2004 Olympic Games, Foudy joined fellow soccer icons Mia Hamm, Joy Fawcett and Brandi Chastain in a 10-game "farewell tour" that marked the end of what the media labeled the "golden era" of US women's soccer.[6][7]

On Aug. 20th, 2013, ESPN Films teamed up with Foudy to premiere their new Nine for IX film on the 1999 Women's World Cup Team, The 99ers. The film, directed by Erin Leyden, and produced by Foudy, tells the incredible story of the 1999 United States women's national soccer team, using Foudy's personal behind the scenes footage. Reuniting key players from the 1999 squad and talking with current U.S. players as well, the film examines how women's soccer – and women's sports as a whole – has changed since that epic day at the Rose Bowl.[10]

The Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy (JFSLA) is an organization focused on sports and leadership for girls founded in 2006 by Foudy and her husband Ian Sawyers.[11] The academy hosts one-week combined sports camp (soccer or lacrosse) and leadership academy for girls age 12–18. The staff includes Olympic gold medalists, World Cup champions and other leaders.[12] The camps are focused on leadership building "on and off the field".[13]

Foudy was selected for induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame for the class of 2007 alongside former teammate Mia Hamm. Foudy and Hamm's induction was the first all-female class of the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame.[14]

In 1997, she received the FIFA Fair Play Award for her work against child labor, the first American and first woman to win the award.[5] For her accomplishments in soccer in the United States, Foudy was awarded the Golden Blazer in 2015 by Men in Blazers.[15]

Foudy has been active in a number of political causes relating to women's rights and workers' rights. In 1998, she received the FIFA Fair Play Award in recognition of her advocacy against child labor in sports equipment manufacturing. The year before she had made trip to Pakistan to inspect working conditions at a factory where soccer balls were manufactured for her then-sponsor, Reebok.[18]

In 2002, Foudy, a former president of the Women's Sports Foundation, was named by United States Secretary of EducationRod Paige to the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics, a panel charged with reviewing the effects and implementation of the landmark 1972 Title IX legislation. Foudy and fellow commission member Donna de Varona refused to sign the report authored by the commission, saying that the report downplayed the persistence of gender-based discrimination in school athletics and that some of its recommendations would allow schools to get away with discrimination. They released a minority report recommending that current anti-discrimination policies remain in place. Paige ultimately decided to only pursue the recommendations that earned unanimous support from the commission.[19]

Julie Foudy and Ian Sawyers have been married since 1995. Foudy gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Isabel Ann, on January 1, 2007. Their second child, a son named Declan, was born in December 2008.